Hundreds rally outside Baltimore home where family died in fire

BALTIMORE -- Chanting "Thou shalt not kill," hundreds rallied Sunday near the burned-out shell of the house where an arson fire killed five children and their mother, who had fought to clear drug dealers from her neighborhood.

"The time has come for us not to just say those words but to live them," said Bishop Felton Edwin May, the head of the Baltimore Washington conference of the United Methodist Church.

Douglas Flowers said he attended the rally to show support "not only to the family, but also to the community and let the drug dealers know they will not prevail."

Darrel Brooks, 21, a man police say has a "drug history," has been charged with setting the fire early Wednesday that killed Angela Dawson; Carnell Dawson Jr., 10; Juan Ortiz, 12; twins Kevin and Keith Dawson, 9; and LaWanda Dawson, 14.

Prosecutors say Brooks kicked in the door to the Dawson home, poured gasoline on the floor and set it on fire.

Dawson's husband, Carnell Dawson Sr., 59, survived but suffered burns over 80 percent of his body and fractured his pelvis jumping from an upper-floor window.

Investigators believe some people in the neighborhood were upset at calls the Dawsons made to police reporting a variety of offenses including drug dealing, police have said.

Brooks faces 29 charges including arson and first-degree murder. He appeared in court Friday and was ordered held without bail. Other arrests are possible, police said.

The house had been firebombed two weeks earlier, but the family escaped injury then. Police offered to move the Dawsons but were told they wanted to stay, Police Commissioner Edward Norris has said.